Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Nortbem CBliforn~a Championship Enduro Series, Round 2 By Rex McClellan Photos by Dave Froman COW MOUNTAIN, CA, APR. 18 onda of Gilroy's Brian Butler rode his Faultline Suspension/ Acerbis/FMF-backed CR500 to the overall victory with a score of 12 at the 35th annual running of the North Bay Motorcycle Club's Sawmill Enduro, which was the second round of the 1998 Northern California Championship Enduro Series. This event marked the first time that the Bureau of Land Management's popular Cow Mountain riding area was used for an enduro. With a lot of help from the BLM's Jim Cooper, the club was able to put together two nice loops that tested the top riders and surprised even the locals with a few event-only miles of extremely challenging trails. Staged out of the Lake County side of Cow Mountain, the morning dawned cool and dry, with the promise of temperatures climbing into the high 60s. After months of El Nino's storms, the club was glad to have four days of dry weather before the event. Conditions were close to perfect, with just a few d.eep mudholes to ruin a napping rider's day. The course started out with a few miles of dirt road, followed by a couple of miles of narrow jeep trails, and then back to dirt road. At 7.6 miles out, the course· made a hard right at the Whitethorn trail head and the riders were checked into the first test section of the day, and 3.2 miles later they were checked out at the first tie breaker. Butler went 2:28, with the district's numberone rider, Dave Wood, going 2:30 along with Tim Stowe. Greg Peterson came in at 2:54, while Eric Von Urf squeaked in ~ (Top left) Brian Butler rode his CRSOO to first overall, first AA rider at the 35th annual Sawmill Enduro. (Top right) A row prepares to take . on the Cow Mountain riding area. (Right) Eric Von Uri rode to sixth overall, first Vet A rider. at 2:59 (whew!). Everyone else dropped three or more. This section was run at 24 mph and was one of the favorites at Cow Mountain for people who like their trails tight but not so nasty you can't take C riders through it. A reset followed and most riders got back on time. The next section .was typical Cow Mountain: roads and trails with everything from graded roads to second-gear rock crawls. The C riders were routed around the really rough stuff, while the rest alternated between being on time and then falling back and then doing it all over again. Anyway, this is where the computers got a workout, and where riders who keep time the real way (manually) experienced brain fade. While not a ·true test section, only four riders made it to check three on their minute. After this check came more timekeeping mixed with fast riding for the top riders. All the other As and Bs were just plain late. At check four, Butler, Wood and Stowe all dropped one, but they were on time at various points between checks. Right after check five there was an event-only trail that had been worked over by the club to make it close to ridable for As and Bs (the Cs bypassed the section). This trail was ultra tight and had everything from downhill off-camber switchbacks and jersey-ripping thorn brush to rocky trails where every softball-sized rock you hit moved and threatened to throw you into the thorns. Some of the more sadistic club members had been against doing any clearing, but calmer minds had prevailed. It was a truly nasty trail and felt much longer than the actual 6 miles. Run at 24 and 18 mph, this section produced big scores. Butler went 6:11, Wood 6:22, Rob Zimmerman 8:12 and 'Stowe went 9:22. Greg Peterson wrapped his brake pedal around his footpeg and carded a 10:40. A reset followed, and free time at the gas stop a couple of miles further on allowed A and top B riders to catch back up. Going into the second loop, Butler led with 9, followed by Wood with 10 and Stowe with 12. After gas, there were a couple of miles of graded road and then a turnoff onto trail number 14, where the trail boss had placed a visible check-in tie-breaker check to mess with riders' minds. The following test section was on a purpose-built trail about 4 feet wide cut into the side of a hill. It wasn't terribly difficult (except for a few ruts, roots and walk-your-bike-around switchbacks), but if you made even the smallest mistake, it took three people to get your bike back on the trail. After 5.1 miles at 24 mph, Butler had dropped 3:16, Stowe 4:08, Peterson 4:24, Von Urf 4:30, Craig Hoffman 4:34, Rob Zimmerman 5:24, and Wood scored a horrendous 7:22 after his carburetor fell off. This was the last test section, and the last two checks were zeroed by all the top riders. However, many B riders who did not enjoy the same bypasses as the Cs spent the afternoon hauling butt trying to catch up. This last section had some of the favorite, more-open trails in the area, with just a few tricky water crossings to keep things interesting. When all was said and done, Butler took the win with a 12 (first AA), Stowe earned second with a 16 (first A 250), Wood got third with a 17 (second AA), Peterson hung tough to nab fourth with a 19 (first A 200) and Zimmerman rounded out the top five with a 20 (second A 200). With the exception of the fast averages for some of the Bs, riders' comments at the finish were all positive. Many riders had ridden at Cow Mountain before but were surprised that the club and the BLM were able to come up with as many tight test sections as they did:. Even local riders were pleasantly surprised; Senior A winner and Factory Pipe proprietor Ross Liberty said the event-only trails made him see a new side to an area he has ridden dozens of times. The race for District 36 championship seems 10 be wide open at this point. Quicksilver winner Craig Wesner and top riders Dave Froman (who was also the trail boss) and Darnien Galford are NBMC members, and they worked the event instead of riding it. The rest of the year should be very interesting as the veterans try to hold off the up-and-comers. a sawmill Enduro Cow Mountain, California Results: April 18, 1998 (Round 2) OIA A1AJc 1. B. Butler O; 3. S. Phizackerley (Hon); 4. M. Jura (Han); 5. T. McWilliams (Hon).

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